Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews; I love you guys! Here's another chapter for you, it's a little shorter than the other two. I hope you enjoy it and remember to review!
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Captain Sparrow woke very early in the morning, feeling uncomfortable surrounded by the luscious scent of the bed he found himself in. He knew he didn't belong here. So he decided to go and sit in the kitchen, where he could clear his head. He had experienced a vivid dream in which a fire-haired woman had hit him hard before embracing him.
In the half-light, the Captain could not see very well, and as he passed into the kitchen, he froze as he heard a tiny squeak. He located where it had come from; Miss Chambers was sleeping under a blanket in the corner.
How strange. He went and sat down, running one hand through his dark hair and another over the curve of his chin. There was stubble there, and he decided he ought to have a shave. The Admiral would be most displeased to find his Captain had a fair smattering of facial hair.
He watched Miss Chambers. Her eyes were closed, her long blonde eyelashes still. She seemed quite a peace. This pleased the Captain, who had still not forgotten the horrific look in her eyes as she had cried yesterday. He was tempted to go and stroke her hair, but somehow that would be too improper. Although that sort of thing wasn't really frowned upon here in Tortuga, he still had to remember his place.
Esther Chambers rolled over suddenly, and the blanket moved down, revealing the tops of her breasts. The Captain swallowed; was she sleeping naked? He found he was blushing and quickly moved towards her, watching the soft curves for just a moment before pulling the blanket back up to her chin.
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Esther went into town that morning. It was a cloudy day, and she walked briskly to avoid feeling cold. Her hands were in the pocket of her apron, and her shoulders were hunched. In the town, people were doing their shopping as usual, but they looked pale and scared. Many of the marines were patrolling the streets.
Esther felt annoyed. They had no right to crush people's freedom like this. She raised her chin proudly and stalked over to the nearest stall. But when she got there she realised that the cluster of people around it were complaining and bickering.
"Look at the prices!" an old woman said to Esther.
"It's not my fault!" the owner of the stall snapped back, looking flustered. "It's the East India Company, taxin' things and controllin' the imports."
Esther was filled with anger. She looked around the street with sharp, burning eyes and located two marines a small distance away.
"Oh, darlin', we're sorry to hear about Anatole," the old woman said, her hand on Esther's arm. "He was a good man. Didn't come to me house often enough, I've said it before, but he was decent."
"Thank you, Madame Ebony."
"And Esther… if yer ever need a job, come ter me. You're the sort of girl I'd be happy to have workin' at the house. Always a place for a pretty thing like you."
"Thank you, Madame Ebony," Esther repeated, secretly thinking that even if she had nothing left in the world, there would be no way she would work in Madame Ebony's brothel.
Moving away from the old woman, Esther headed over to the marines, who looked at her warily as she approached. They were young officers, she saw, hardly a day older than Anatole. She thought of her brother and became more incensed. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at them.
"Can we help you, Miss?"
"Apparently not," she snarled. "Who do you think you are, comin' here and takin' away our freedom? You should be ashamed of yourselves!"
A small crowd had gathered around the fuming woman and the two pale marines. They were cheering her on, calling her name encouragingly.
"Miss, we must ask you to stand down," one of the officers said nervously, looking at the crowd.
"Well, I must decline!" she snapped back, stepping forward, unsure of what she was actually going to do.
Strong hands grabbed her shoulders and she was startled by the familiarity of them. She stopped in her tracks and allowed herself to be moved back a little. "Officers, I'll deal with her," the low voice of the Captain said.
The officers looked very relieved as the Captain hauled Esther out of the street. Esther was almost surprised at how rough he was being, and then found it reassured her. She wouldn't know how to deal with it if he was kind. He was her enemy. He let go of her in a side-alley and spun her around to look at him, and upon seeing the look on his face, she wanted to run away.
He looked livid. The intense anger in his eyes was enough to make her tremble.
"Captain, what are you doing?" she asked quietly.
"You foolish woman!" the Captain hissed. "How many times must I save your life? Do you want to die?"
"I would die for what I believe," she replied boldly.
He stepped forward; she tried to move away but found herself against a wall.
"You may well, but I don't want to be there to see it." He barely raised his voice, the words coming out as a low growl.
Their noses were almost touching now. Esther wasn't sure how to react to being so close to a member of the Navy, someone who was stealing the freedom she loved so much. "Why not? What do you care?"
He hesitated, baring his teeth in frustration. He placed one strong hand on each of her cheeks, which made her squirm and panic a little, before he pressed his lips against her forehead in a way that was more an assault than a kiss. When he moved back he was scarlet and she was sorely tempted to laugh; was that his way of demonstrating that he did care? She also wanted to hit him- she did not want to be friends with the enemy.
"Don't do that again, savvy?" she heard herself saying.
"Savvy?" he repeated, and a slanted grin appeared on his face.
"Yes, savvy." She didn't want to be near him when he was wearing that unnerving grin, and she pushed him out of the way, running from the alley.
He called after her. "Until tonight, Miss Chambers!"